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The Waking of Willie Ryan

The Waking of Willie Ryan

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Author: John Broderick
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Publishing in conjunction with the John Broderick Bequest, and the Arts Council of Ireland, to mark 100 years of John Broderick.

Willie Ryan returns to his home town in ‘the great central plain of Ireland’, having escaped from the insane asylum where he was committed, and unvisited, by his devout Catholic family for twenty-five years. The given pretext for his commitment was an attack on his sister-in-law, Mary Ryan, wife of his brother Michael. The true reason: an affair with a hedonistic young man who introduced him to art, literature and music.

In this exposee; of the ‘petty bourgeois snobbishness, hypocrisies and pretensions of the ‘little grocer’s republic’ of 1950s Ireland, nothing evil happens as long as it is not seen. Through Willie’s piercing vision, we see the truth of his brother Michael’s grief and remorse, his nephew Chris’s fear of freedom, and the perceptiveness of asylum nurse Halloran. As Willie prepares for death, he agrees to a private family mass, setting the stage for a confrontation with father Mannix, one of those complicit in putting him away.

Details

ISBN: 9781843510499

Extent: 130

Published:

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  • ‘John Broderick explores frustrated life, soured ideals and the pattern of dark religious and anti-religious stupidity in an Irish town … he throws a light of truth and understanding into very dark holes in the Irish spirit … he is one determined and melancholy kind of realist.’ – Kate O’Brien

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About the Author

The novelist John Broderick was born in Connaught Street, Athlone in 1924. Among his 12 published novels, his best known is The Pilgrimage (1961). His bestseller, An Apology for Roses (1973), sold 30,000 copies in the first week of its publication in 1973.

 He died in Bath, England where he had lived for eight years. Following his death, he bequeathed his estate to the Arts Council of Ireland for ‘the benefit and enhancement of the Arts in Athlone’.

 His writer in residency series, supported by this fund and based in Athlone, is run in partnership with Westmeath County Council. This 2024 publication of The Waking of Willie Ryan, celebrating the centenary of John Broderick's birth, has been funded through the John Broderick Bequest.

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